Throwback Star Wars Game: The New Droid Army For Gameboy
By Elaine Tveit
I’m throwing back to a Star Wars game I used to play on my brother’s Gameboy Advance: The New Droid Army.
Ready to play as Anakin Skywalker and battle droids, Count Dooku, and a bunch of stupid womp rats that are as annoying and destructive as those skeletons in Zelda? Star Wars: The New Droid Army is the game for you.
Available exclusively for Gameboy, The New Droid Army follows Anakin post-Attack of the Clones as he investigates some strange goings-on with Separatist droids, likely orchestrated by the nefarious Count Dooku. I don’t remember much else about the plot. I don’t think I got very far in the game, either, because it wasn’t exactly easy for a nine-year-old or however old I was at the time. As I alluded to earlier, the womp rats were no walk in the park to get rid off (they’re like real rats, just as proliferate but more ferocious), and the droids, particularly the Super Battle Droids, were not exactly pieces of cake either.
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Here’s what I remember about the game: The game starts in the Jedi Temple, where Anakin is briefed on his new mission, which, as I said, has something to do with Separatist droids and probably discovering this new droid army. Then he goes to Tatooine, where the womp rats are, and also some Tusken Raiders and a weird person in a red outfit. I don’t remember what it is Anakin is trying to do on his home planet, but it has something to do with investigating the new droid army, obviously. He gets what he needs, I guess, and then heads to Coruscant or some other big city world, where he meets up with Dexter Jettster at one point (and apparently Luminara Unduli; I was looking through some screenshots and found a dialogue between her and Anakin). After that, it’s a lot of droids, droids, droids, and I think at one point you have to duel Dooku. He’s probably the boss of the game.
I don’t remember if I ever got as far as the end. One day my brother, who owned the Gameboy Advance I played The New Droid Army on, decided to sell it and his games to Gamestop, so that was the end of that for me. Cut short by an entrepreneurial sibling.
Next: Are Interactive Droids Coming To Star Wars Land?
Did you ever play this game? If so, what are your memories of it? Talk to me in the comments below. Personally, I’m almost tempted to buy a Gameboy and The New Droid Army off eBay just so I can relive the experience, and also see if those ravenous womp rats were really as hard to kill as I thought they were. If they are, I can always resell the game to Gamestop.
NOTE: If you’d like a better and more accurate picture of the plot, just check out the game’s Wikipedia page (though my account was much more entertaining).